Ryan: ‘We know with certainty that a debt crisis is coming to America’

PAUL RYAN: You know what we know with certainty? We know with certainty that a debt crisis is coming to America. This is not a question of if, it's a question of when. What is a debt crisis? It means we can't keep living beyond our means. It means we can't keep borrowing from our children's future. This, we, our generation of Americans, we are being selfish. We are taking from the next generation their future. We have a moral obligation to fix that and if we have a debt crisis, those who get hurt the first and worst are those who need government the most. Our seniors. The poor. The people living in the safety net. That's who gets hurt in a debt crisis. We have an obligation to do something about this. And so what does this bill do? This bill simply says, "Congress, do your job." When I grew up in Wisconsin if you had a job, and you did the work, then you got paid. If you didn't do the work, you didn't get paid. It's that simple. Here's the point. We have a law. It's called the Budget Act. It requires that Congress passes a budget, by April 15. All we're saying is "Congress, follow the law." Do your work. Budget. And the reason for this extension is so that we can have the debate we need to have. It's been a one-sided debate. The House of Representatives has passed budgets. The other body, the Senate, hasn't passed a budget for almost four years. We owe our constituents more than that. We owe them solutions. And when both parties put their solutions on the table, then we can have a good, clear debate about how to solve the problem. Because the problem is not going away, no matter how much we can wish it away. The problem of debt, of deficit, of a debt crisis is here. We owe it to our children and grandchildren, we owe it to our constituents, to fix this. This isn't a Republican or a Democrat thing. This is a math thing. And the math is vicious. And it's hurting our country. And it's hurting the next generation. And it's hurting our economy. And the sooner we can solve this problem, the better off everybody is going to be. That's why this needs to pass.